Chapter 4.

SOMEWHERE IN THE VALE OF KASHMIR (1955)

They were quite the disparate pair as they walked along. A Caucasian man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a hooded gray cloak over a long-sleeved khaki shirt with matching jodhpurs and black boots. And a barrel-chested individual who looked like a cross between a bear and an ape (wearing jodhpurs and boots only)!

"May I ask you a personal question?" inquired the latter.

"You may," replied Kantos. "Within reason, of course."

"Why are you so obsessed with finding a yulan-jin? As an Immortal, even vampires cannot drain you dry! You only have to worry about decapitation by fellow Immortals."

"Precisely," said Kantos. "Something I thought I was safe from while I dwelt on the holy ground that marked the headquarters of the Chakravanti in Tibet. Then, one day, I met a vampire. A Nosferatu antitribu serving as Master of the Aurelian Order. And he divulged to me a curious prophesy concerning... me."

"He told me that I was destined to be decapitated by a champion of light, born during the winter solstice, following a personal period of darkness. That is, of course, unless I tracked him down and beheaded him, first! I could not agree with him more, so I deserted my diplomatic posting to do just that. My quest, however, has thus far proven fruitless. So, instead, I have formulated a contingency plan. When the prophesied time comes, I am determined to swap bodies with the aforementioned champion! So that it will be I, in _his_ body, taking my head. Thereby fulfilling the letter of the prophecy... while simultaneously defying the spirit of it."

Fenris Greybeard hoarsely chuckled. "Clever! A little convoluted, perhaps; but clever."

Kantos frowned in puzzlement.

"Is that not similar to the reason you projected your astral body into the Silver Fang theurge who originally tried to destroy you?"

"Nein! It was simply to escape the limitations inherent with being a Nagaraja."

EAST BERLINHAUS (1967)

Doctors Krelmar and Seltzmann looked at their Russian audience. A GRU general; his KGB counterpart; and their various aides of both sexes.

"Vilkommen, mein herren und damen," said Krelmar. "You are about to see the culmination of ten years of research and development. The activation of what mein colleague, Dr. Seltzmann, prefers to call 'the transmigratron.' I, on the other hand, simply prefer to use the initials PTD (or psyche-transference device). But, whatever nomenclature you prefer, the effect will be the same. Whosoever is shackled to these two seats, and affixed with these two helmets, will have their minds and personalities electronically transposed from one body to another!"

"As proof," added Seltzmann. "…we will conduct an experiment. Using a gorilla/chimpanzee hybrid (accomplished via artificial insemination) from the Moscow Zoo. And a CIA double-agent recently arrested on our side of the Wall!"

Whereupon, a drugged ape was dragged forward. Along with a frantically-struggling man (his mouth gagged, and frontward-facing wrists heavily bound, with electrician's tape)! The two of them being subsequently placed in the aforementioned chairs, and adorned with the aforementioned helmets, by four burly members of the East German secret police.

"Do you wish to have the honor, Herr Doktor?" inquired Krelmar.

Dieter Seltzmann did not need to be asked twice. With a somewhat dramatic flourish that he just could not resist...

...he flipped the indicated switch.

KLAITAL PUK MONASTERY,
SOMEWHERE IN TIBET (1955)

As soon as Cassandra emerged from the flames, they returned to normal, automatically losing their magical green coloration. Whereupon, she turned around to behold three saffron-robed monks bowing to her in deference.

"Greetings, Lady Cassandra," said the one in the middle. "The Loup Guru sensed your imminent arrival and sent us to welcome you. Please, allow us to take you to his personal chambers where the two of you may converse in respectful privacy."

The Immortal wizardess nodded. Bipedally following the three monks in her Krinos form. Upon arriving at the aforementioned chambers, the evidently chosen spokesman for the trio politely asked her to wait in the anteroom for a few moments, as the Loup Guru's tea had not yet finished boiling.

"During that interval," he courteously added. "...you may resume your homid form. Thereby allowing you to don your more conventional vestments."

Cassandra chuckled at the thinly-veiled request to not appear before the head of the monastery as a naked woman. Nodding her compliance, accordingly, sure enough; within ten seconds after she had put on her favorite brown leather ensemble with matching cape (the latest replica of the one she had first worn during the Middle Ages), the door to the Loup Guru's inner chambers opened inward.

All by itself!

"Enter, my child, and double the savory flavor of my tea."

Cassandra smiled as she obeyed the soft-spoken command.

"Only you would refer to an Immortal, as old as myself, as a 'child', Holiness."

The elderly Stargazer chuckled. The silvery-white hair of his Glabro form making him resemble the (highly erroneous) Occidental stereotype of the legendary Yeti.

"According to my acquaintances in the Chakravanti, we all go around more than once. By that logic, I am therefore probably just as old as you are, through constant rebirth! But, enough talk. Please! Sit and drink with me."

Again, she politely complied. With the Loup Guru pouring her tea, himself, before engaging her in small talk. It was only after she had finished all that tea that she broached the true, and deadly serious, reason for her visit. Her host listening attentively, before gravely nodding.

"Yes, I thought I perceived a disturbance in the Ether. Though I hoped I was wrong about it being the Abomination called Greybeard!"

"I'm sorry to dash that hope. But, I must stop them from whatever they're planning to do together. I therefore humbly ask... where in the Vale of Kashmir could Kantos possibly hope to find and diablerize any yulan-jin?"

"There are only two places that I know of," replied the elderly Stargazer. "The Temple of Shadows on the Leng Plateau, where the borders of India, Burma, and Tibet all converge. And the ruined city of Kala Pradesh, in northeastern Aksai Chin. Given what the Green Lama told you, I would suggest resuming your pursuit in the latter direction. Take care, however! It is rumored that the yulan-jin of Kala Pradesh are now led by a rogue Ajaba... named Tiaowen Kou."

Cassandra frowned in recognition of that name.

"Wasn't that the striped were-hyena who led the Stargazers out of Chaldea after Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia?"

The Loup Guru nodded: "The one in residence at Kala Pradesh is his namesake descendant."

* * * * *
TRIESTE, ITALY (1967)

"Buon giorno, Signor," said the desk clerk on duty at the Hotel Cagliostro. "How may I be of-ah service?"

"Count Sanguinelli's room, please. Tell him its John Baring Summers, and that I'm here to see him on a matter of life and death. Final Death!"

GLOSSARY

Loup Guru: a pun that was just too good to resist.

Crinos (aka "Krinos"): the most anthropomorphic stage of a Garou's shapeshifting process. Imagine the Big Bad Wolf of "Three Little Pigs" fame were the size of the Incredible Hulk.

Glabro: the second stage of shapeshifting from human to wolf. Making the Garou in question resemble a hairy wild man (a la Lon Chaney, Jr.) or even a Bigfoot-type ape!